Editing Sarmatians (section)

==Ethnology==
[[Image:Sarmatian crown.jpg|thumb|right|A Sarmatian [[diadem]], found at the Khokhlach [[kurgan]] near [[Novocherkassk]] (first century CE, [[Hermitage Museum]]).<ref>{{cite book |title=The Golden Deer of Eurasia: Scythian and Sarmatian Treasures from the Russian Steppes : the State Hermitage, Saint Petersburg, and the Archaeological Museum, Ufa |date=2000 |publisher=Metropolitan Museum of Art |isbn=978-0-87099-959-8 |page=13 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=GWcjhsRCWG4C&pg=PA13 |language=en}}</ref>]]
The Sarmatians were part of the Iranian steppe peoples, among whom were also [[Scythians]] and [[Saka]].{{sfn|Kuzmina|2007|p=220}} These also are grouped together as "East Iranians."{{sfn|Kuzmina|2007|p=445}} Archaeology has established the connection 'between the Iranian-speaking Scythians, Sarmatians, and Saka and the earlier Timber-grave and [[Andronovo culture]]s'.{{sfn|Kuzmina|2007|p=xiv}} Based on building construction, these three peoples were the likely descendants of those earlier archaeological cultures.{{sfn|Kuzmina|2007|p=50}} The Sarmatians and Saka used the same stone construction methods as the earlier Andronovo culture.{{sfn|Kuzmina|2007|p=51}} The [[Timber-grave culture|Timber grave]] ([[Srubnaya culture]]) and [[Andronovo culture|Andronovo]] house building traditions were further developed by these three peoples.{{sfn|Kuzmina|2007|p=64}} Andronovo pottery was continued by the Saka and Sarmatians.{{sfn|Kuzmina|2007|p=78}} Archaeologists describe the Andronovo culture people as exhibiting pronounced [[Caucasoid]] features.<ref>{{cite journal|last1=Keyser|first1=Christine|last2=Bouakaze|first2=Caroline|last3=Crubézy|first3=Eric|last4=Nikolaev|first4=Valery G.|last5=Montagnon|first5=Daniel|last6=Reis|first6=Tatiana|last7=Ludes|first7=Bertrand|date=16 May 2009|title=Ancient DNA provides new insights into the history of south Siberian Kurgan people|journal=[[Human Genetics (journal)|Human Genetics]]|volume=126|issue=3|pages=395–410|doi=10.1007/s00439-009-0683-0|pmid=19449030|s2cid=21347353}}</ref>

The first Sarmatians are mostly identified with the Prokhorovka culture, which moved from the [[southern Urals]] to the [[Lower Volga]] and then to the northern [[Pontic steppe]], in the fourth–third centuries BCE. During the migration, the Sarmatian population seems to have grown and they divided themselves into several groups, such as the [[Alans]], [[Aorsi]], [[Roxolani]], and [[Iazyges]]. By 200 BCE, the Sarmatians replaced the Scythians as the dominant people of the steppes.<ref name="Cunliffe2001">{{cite book|author=Barry W. Cunliffe|title=The Oxford Illustrated History of Prehistoric Europe|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=NAwGLzAfyhEC&pg=PA402|year=2001|publisher=Oxford University Press|isbn=978-0-19-285441-4|pages=402–}}</ref> The Sarmatians and Scythians had fought on the [[Pontic steppe]] to the north of [[the Black Sea]].<ref name=Rene>{{cite book |last=Grousset |first=Rene |title=The Empire of the Steppes |url=https://archive.org/details/empireofsteppes00grou |url-access=registration |publisher=Rutgers University Press |year=1970 |isbn=978-0-8135-1304-1 |pages=[https://archive.org/details/empireofsteppes00grou/page/15 15]}}</ref> The Sarmatians, described as a large confederation,{{sfn|Sinor|1990|p=113}} were to dominate these territories over the next five centuries.{{sfn|Brzezinski|Mielczarek|2002|p=}} According to Brzezinski and Mielczarek, the Sarmatians were [[ethnogenesis|formed]] between the [[Don River (Russia)|Don River]] and the [[Ural Mountains]].{{sfn|Brzezinski|Mielczarek|2002|p=}} [[Pliny the Elder]] wrote that they ranged from the [[Vistula]] River (in present-day [[Poland]]) to the [[Danube]].